House Wants `Scarlet Letter' For Child-sex Offenders

Bill Would Let Towns Know When Ex-cons Move Into The Neighborhood

SPRINGFIELD — Amid increased fears about child molesters being released into the community, House lawmakers Friday voted without dissent to tell the public when convicted child-sex offenders move into town.

The 116-0 vote sends the measure to the Senate, where tougher sentences for child-sex offenses are expected to be added to the bill before lawmakers conclude their veto session Nov. 16.

Though no lawmakers opposed the measure, largely because of its tough-on-crime overtones, some questioned the bill's constitutionality. Others contended that it did not go far enough to address the circumstances surrounding the death of an Aroma Park child that prompted the bill's introduction.

But supporters said the public's right to know about the criminal backgrounds of child-sex offenders outweighed released prisoners' right to privacy. Safety, they said, no longer is simply a matter of parents telling children not to talk to strangers.

"It's not about the strangers. It's about the neighbors we don't know," said Rep. Maureen Murphy (R-Evergreen Park).

Rep. Phil Novak (D-Bradley) called the measure a "good step," but he noted that registration would not have applied to Timothy Buss, accused in the August kidnapping and slaying of 10-year-old Christopher Meyer of Aroma Park in Kankakee County. Buss had served a prison term for the first-degree murder of a child, but he had no record of a sex offense involving a minor.

The legislation would affect adults and juveniles convicted or declared delinquent for sex crimes involving children, as well as people acquitted of those crimes by reason of insanity.

Current state law requires sex offenders, including those whose victims were adults, to register with police starting Jan. 1. But current law also prevents the public release of those names.

The legislation would allow the release of the names of child-sex offenders and require police to notify the state Department of Children and Family Services, schools and child-care centers near the convicted person's home.

The House reserved the lengthiest debate of the day for a political exercise by majority Republicans on legislation that the GOP contended would make it easier to register to vote under the so-called federal motor-voter law. But Senate GOP leaders already have refused to deal with the issue, and Democrats held off their votes, contending that the measure would further complicate registration.

In other legislative action:

Chief Illiniwek: Senators concurred with the House and upheld Gov. Jim Edgar's changes to a bill that effectively continues the University of Illinois' right to decide whether to keep its mascot, which some have called insensitive to American Indians.

Ethics: Senators accepted Edgar's changes to an ethics bill. The bill, which becomes a law, bans post-election municipal pay increases, forces disclosure of Cook County ward and township political funds, cuts off daily legislative stipends in overtime sessions, and bans honorariums for lawmakers.

Bus crash: Lawmakers approved a resolution to rename as Seven Angels Crossing the railroad crossing in Fox River Grove that was the site of the Oct. 25 train-bus accident that killed seven Cary-Grove High School students.